Xah Lee's Juggling Progress Report

By Xah Lee. Date: 2005-09-22

My Juggling History

I've been juggling intensively for 2 years in 1987 – 1989. Usually practicing more than 4 hours a day every day. My juggling repertoire includes ball juggling, ball bouncing, double-baton twirling, devil stick, Chinese-yoyo, rope walking, and unicycling. These are the days in Montreal, Canada, in my late teens.

The few act that i do relatively good at performance level are 3-ball tricks juggling, double-baton twirling, and unicycling. With the unicycle, i was able to fluently do: jump-start, back-peddling, one-foot-pedling (left or right foot, moving continuously forward), and tire-walking (sit on the seat, push the tire with your feet so that the unicycle moves forward). The unicycle trick i was learning then was to stand-still, which i thought is possible but haven't seen anyone done it.

For the ball juggling, the max number i can do was 4. I mostly wanted to be a 3-balls tricks/technical juggler. (was dreaming to be the greatest juggler) Of the few quality 3-balls tricks i recall can do are:

1-hand (left or right). (for perhaps 20 throws)

flash with a pirouette in between, and repeat. (maybe 3 cycles)

~4 meters high continuous flash with one clap in between. (perhaps 10 cycles)

I have not juggled since 1989, until 2005. In 2005 (age 37), i started to revisit juggling. (only ball-juggling) After a few months, i find it somewhat miraculous that most of juggling skills came back. I am able to do all the tricks i remember. The agility of youth is probably gone, as well the mastery of some moves, but i don't feel there is any skill loss at all. If i wanted to, i can easily pick up any specialized mastery i had.

Also, this year i discovered the amazing siteswap, which really is a product of the progress of technology of communication. With siteswap and juggling simulation software, i discovered fantastic pattern variations, generated systematically by computer. Such list of variations are far beyond what pitiful variations that can be conjured up by a juggler's imagination. (the burst of juggling pattern variations due to siteswap is truly a by-product of computing technology). I started to try pattern variations with 4 balls such as “4-balls tennis” (53444). I also actually started to practice 5 balls up to 70 throws in 2005. One thing i realized about this experience is that, even if one do not intend to be a number juggler, increasing numbers or practicing siteswap patterns actually does help one's overall juggling skills.

My Juggling Progress Report

The following is a juggling progress report, i'm starting to create and fill up today. (this page will be updated weekly.)

2-ball left-hand, right-hand

back-cross: 3*2,

penguin flip:20,12

back catch (throw over shoulder, catch in the back):1,1

claw, column: 72, 14*4

move left hand to the right armpit, rotate shoulder to the right slightly, throw under the right armpit behind the back and towards left, the ball passing the back and moves to the left side, untwist shoulder and catch the ball with left hand. Repeat with right hand:3*2

rainbow (reverse cascade, arms as wide as possible at head level):12*3

straight-line (cascade, arms as wide as possible at waist level):

on the left-side of waist (right hand behind the back): 25*3, 84

alternate waist-sides over tummy: 17*6

Both feet on the ground, right hand under left leg: 2*3

Both feet on the ground, right hand under the left leg, then switch to the other side.

Both feet fixed on the ground, slightly apart. Face left. Right hand behind the back, make a throw beside the left waist, then, a left hand throw drops the ball to behind the left knee, right hand goes under the left knee to catch and throw once. Then repeats the waist throw and behind knee throw. 8*8

left leg goes up and right hand makes a throw under the leg. (the balls flies on the left side of the left thigh) Left leg touches the ground. Then, left leg goes up gain, right hand makes a throw under the leg. Each time the leg lifts, there are 5 throws. 36*5

same as above, except now with right leg. 23*5

fountain, with each throw under the same-sided leg: 20*3

fountain, with each throw under the opposite-sided leg: 12*3

5-ball

cascade: 18*10

Tennis: 11*5

half-shower (left top): 7*8

Tricks to learn

1-ball

back-handed throw jerk. (like reverse penguin) Left hand hold the ball, straighten arm downward, wrist curled inward facing back, jerk up the arm and release ball. The ball may go to the front over the same shoulder:

cascade behind head: extend left hand to the left, throw over a wide arc towards right, but passing right behind head.

move right hand to just above the shoulder, drop the ball behind it, catch it with the same hand down.

2-ball

Have 2 balls on your left hand. Position your feet about 70cm apart. Now, sit on the floor. Place your rigth hand's balm about 1 meter behind your right foot, and raise your ass. Now, juggle the 2 balls “over head” style. Now, do a flash and switch hand. Repeat.

3-ball

Stand low with feet about 70cm apart. Lower your body, untill your
thighs are parallel to the ground, keep torso straight. In this entire
juggling routine, you are to be in that fixed stance. Now, do a
cascade. When it is time for the right hand to catch, move the right
hand under the right leg (from the outer side) and throw the ball
towards your, face and catch the falling ball. Then, immediately do
the same with the left hand. Once the left hand is done, do a regular cycle of cascade (with hands not under the legs). Then, go back to hands under the legs.
In summary, resume a low stance, and juggle with both hands under the leg, and out of the leg, switch inbetween both modes fluently.

Stand with legs maybe 20cm apart. Do cascade. Then, when it is right hand's turn to throw, throw it straight up (so it will land close to the right side of the waist), then, move the left hand to the back and close to the right side of your waist, throw the ball on the left hand in such a way it will fall to the left side of the waist. Then, catch the falling ball. Now, do the above with the other side. Repeat. When done correctly, the balls jump from armpit to armpit over your tummy.